Here is a list of my favorite photography resources. Some are free, others have a monthly or annual subscription fee:

DPReview: good source for news and info
Kelby Training: tons of courses, as little as $25 for a month's access to anything
Creative Live: Semi monthly free courses, can purchase after the fact
Adobe TV: Webcasts on using Adobe products
Animoto: Great for creating quick videos (quick video I did)
Strobist: classic for learning lighting
[link=http://www.luminous-landscape.com/whatsnew/]...

Thanks for sharing, Brad! I love the Practical Photography website, because of their hands on tutorials and how-to articles. I find them informative, useful and above all, inspirational to my creativity! I too am a fan of Kelby and dpreview. I will check out your others.

I'm currently reading a few books, including one called the 'Paradox of choice'. One of the themes is that too much choice brings negative side effects. People seem to want choice, and to exercise their freedom to choose - yet when choices are more limited they are better able to make a decision and happier with the result.

I got to thinking that this kind of applied to how I use my lenses. While I wish I could bring and have access to all my gear when I leave the house, I often find I use my camera more if I just pick a single lens and run with that for the day. Especially if the choice is a prime lens! It is somehow easier to make a choice and pick one lens prior to leaving the house. With everything in the bag I could obviously make the same choice...

I watched Zack Arias's video on Creative Live and he had a good piece of advice: "Don't buy anything for six months. Just get really comfortable with the equipment you already own.". With stock you see this all the time - people want to spend money on more gear to sell stock when they have 7 images online... Work with what you have until you know the limits - if those limits are holding you back. People don't want to hear that a nifty fifty is all they really need to do well.

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My last blog talked about how less choice can be helpful, but there is another aspect to this that is particularly applicable to photography. Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what gear to buy. What is interesting is that we don't just compare the options, which would be hard enough, but we also compare the options to a hypothetical ideal that doesn't exist. We do this because it is easy to imagine. Here are two examples:

1. Lenses. When buying lenses I will often be looking for the sharpest lens I can get my hands on, but what does sharpest really mean? If you go with a wide aperture lens, most have some noticeable degradation wide open compared to stopped down results. Most are aware that stopped down to f/8 even inexpensive lenses perform...

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